Award-winning Australian playwright, author and visual artist, Barry Dickins, passed away on 13 July 2026. Barry’s versatility also included being an actor, poet, educator, illustrator, cartoonist, writer-in-residence, fellowship winner, journalist, screenwriter and radio playwright.
With a career spanning over fifty years, Barry Dickins contributed nearly sixty plays to the Australian drama repertoire, particularly for the independent theatrical arts sector. He also authored more than thirty fiction/non-fiction and children’s books.
The works of Barry Dickins have been described as ‘trailblazing’, and in 1974 his first play, a translation of Ibsen’s Ghosts, was presented by La Mama Theatre. Also a key figure at Carlton’s Pram Factory, Barry would continue to write, perform and mentor across the decades.
In 1995, the play Remember Ronald Ryan by Barry Dickins won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. In 2008, his play Whiteley’s Incredible Blue received the R.E. Ross Trust Playwright Script Development Award, and in 2010, Barry Dickins received the same award for his play A Kind of Fabulous Hatred, both presented at fortyfivedownstairs.
Born in the Melbourne suburb of Reservoir, Barry remained proudly loyal to his working-class upbringing and fondly wrote about Reservoir many times in his journalism and plays.
In 2022, Barry Dickins kindly agreed to be interviewed for the Theatre Heritage Australia oral history program. He was a fantastic storyteller, we ran out of time, and a second interview was scheduled for the following week.
The result is a two-part Theatre Heritage Australia oral history interview of approximately two hours’ duration, in which Barry shares his fascinating life story. See https://theatreheritage.org.au/digital-collection/oral-history-interviews/857-barry-dickins
Deepest condolences to Barry’s son Louis, his brothers John, Chris and Robert, Sarah, nephew Tom and Barry’s friends.
Vale Barry Dickins.
